26 posts tagged “knit”

Oh, and I did some more holiday yarn shopping at Wool & Co. in Geneva, IL.
BUT! I was good and only got yarn for patterns in my Ravelry queue.

Totally unrelated:
I am seriously flipping out over tomorrow's Doctor Who episode. Although I have to admit, I am more concerned about Jack, Gwen & Ianto, and Sarah Jane than I am about Ten's pseudo-regeneration or whatever may happen. Please don't let Sarah Jane die! ah! ;_;
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I made it while sitting at work watching The Sarah Jane Adventures. The last time I made a Calorimetry it took two nights and turned out gigantic. So, this time, I cast on 96 stitches instead of 120, and I worked on US7s instead of US8s. And the size is perfect. I didn't bring buttons or my darning kit with me, so I can't put it in properly (hence me holding it on). But I lurve it.

This is also my 33rd (!) project of the year. I hit my goal. Go me! Now I'm off to see if I can hit 50 projects before the end of the year. I think I can do it.
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That second picture may or may not be of me. I'll let you decide what you want to believe. This makes my 30th project, so I'm pretty close to the 33 mark and it's just hitting the half-way mark of the year. SO. I am upping the ante to 50. I think I can do it. 50 projects in 2008.

Also, I found amazing Futurama computer icons. Check it:
Al Gore's head is my Documents folder, because he clearly needed to be the most important thing on my computer. Bender is the downloads folder ("Warning, perform virus scan? I'm waiting for porn over here!!").
Morbo as my harddrive (just because he's awesome, as is my computer), Malfunctioning Eddy as my Windows partition (ooooo, burned Windows!), my external harddrive is the InfoSphere (seems logical), and Professor Farnsworth is my Time Machine drive ("So many loves half-loved. So many inventions half-invented. That damn time machine alone set me back 15 years.").

I have some other folders set with Futurama icons as well. My School folder is Wernstrum, my Knitting Patterns folder is Zoidberg (see my user icon for reference), and my Home folder is Clamps ("It'll be clamp this, clamp that, badda-climp badda-clamp!").

If you couldn't tell by my entry titles and constant references, I definitely am big enough of a Futurama freak to do this. And spend lots of time reasoning out who should be where and why. Now I'm off to watch "The Lost Adventure."
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Speaking of which ... I am about 98% positive that I have a house in Austin. Hoorah.

Well, this thing is supposed to be about knitting, so ...

I finished the lacy scarf. It blocked very well and it looks like it won't curl up as much as I initially thought. Definitely happy times.

Also, I'm participating in a Jelly Baby swap through the Who Knits? group on Ravelry. I've never really done a proper knitting swap before, so this is big exciting for me. I have my package all put together. I put in a mixcd, a nice little notebook, a skein of yarn, some tea, some stickers, and a bunch of candy. My swap is going to a non-Amerikanerin, so I tried to find chocolates and sweets that aren't around in ----. (I can't say where because my swapping is so-far anonymous! I can say more later once I know it arrives in its destination.) The only downside here is that shipping is going to be ridiculous. OH WELL.

More in WIPs tomorrow.

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p.s. Go Barack!

I have decided to take it upon myself to make a scarf in leu of the Fourth Doctor. I think I posted at some point about buying the yarn I needed to make it happen. Well, tonight I'm finally giving it a go.

To be honest, though, I've started and restarted a handful of times already, because I wasn't sure how the pattern was going to work out. I picked my yarn based on color, not weight. The pattern calls for DK weight, and I bought worsted. So I figured whatevah, I'll just give it a go and see what happens. Attempt 1 started with garter stitch, but I cast on way too many stitches. I frogged, then decided to cast on less and use a 1x1 rib. After a while I realized the 1x1 would be way too heavy for such a long scarf. So tonight I start my third attempt, and this time it is going to work because I mathed it all out! Hooray math.

Basically, I am cutting everything down a third. I'm casting on 44 sts instead of 64. I went through each row and mathed out how many I should work to have each color take up about the same amount of space.

I'm going to knit on US8s ... for this yarn 9 is too big and stretchy, and 7 is a bit too small. 

Good old mathy math.

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Why yes, it is the OS Leopard background with a TARDiS. Why not?

And on that note, here is what's on my needles on this glorious What's On Your Needles Wednesday:

1) Nora Gaughan's Brea Bag, 2) International Sock of Doom #1, 3) Non-Lopi Scarf (as seen in a previous entry). Wicked (sweater) and a few other small things aren't here because they're on hold. I have cast-on-itis. It's bad.

As far as the thesis goes ... chapter 2 is on page 15 and I'm still talking about the first theme. I have two more to go, and then a whole other analytical chapter! And perhaps another one after that. What's wrong with me?

And just to wrap things up, I'm going to try one of those Quote of the Day things.

What do you do when you get a crush on someone?

I rarely crush on anyone, because as Bender so eloquently put it: "Emotions are dumb and should be hated." Sometimes I wish I'd crush on someone, but 99% of the time I remember how frustrating it is and I don't really have time for that. Ouch.

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Here is what I cast on today:

The pattern is Lopi Lace Scarf from Weekend Knitting. I picked this book up on a whim a few weeks ago, and I absolutely adore it. There are recipes for cookies, tips for brewing tea, and all sorts of wonderful things that make me happy. The patterns are all great as well. This one in particular is really great; it's easy to memorize and knits up quickly. The yarn is Moda Dea Beadnik, which has fun little beads threaded through it. So far a lot of them have ended up on the wrong side of the scarf, but it still looks nice. I also love the color.

Back to chapter 2!

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Anyway, I finished a few things and thought I should do the right thing and post about them.

This is the Triple Cable Muffler (duh) from One Skein. I had a skein of Blue Sky Alpacas cotton and thought I'd do something with it. I think I'm going to send this to my grandpa so he can wear it while he's on his boat.

And here is my completed butterfly tam. It's big enough for me to stuff all of my hair into the back, which makes me happy. I know I never put myself up here anywhere, but my hair is pretty long right now. Take my word on it. I am on run three of growing my hair out to donate to Locks of Love. I still have about two inches to go. Hopefully it'll be long enough at the end of the summer.

I'm realizing now that I never introduced Gretchen properly.

Gretchen is my Singer dress form that I bought from Joann.com a few weeks ago. I posted about it at some point I think. Anyway, her name is Gretchen, inspired by "Gretchen am Spinnrade" (op. 2, D. 118) by Franz Schubert. In my other life I am a vocalist and I specialize in art song. Schubert and R. Schumann are my favorite Romantic composers, and I sing their works often. Something about her singing at the spinning wheel makes me think of making clothes/being crafty, so I thought the name worked well. (What you're seeing in the background of this picture: my tv playing an episode of Futurama, a stack of Futurama DVD sets [with season one of Batman:The Animated Series and The Magnificent Seven thrown in], one of my lockers full of video games, a folded up DDR dance pad, posters for two of the three movies I'm writing about in my thesis.)

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Here is a non-related project that I finished a few weeks ago but never got around to posting here:

This is Purl Bee's cashmere cowl, though not knit in cashmere. This is a handspun laceweight yarn I bought off of an etsy store. It's awesome. The color is gorgeous, and this picture is surprisingly close to the actual color. yay

I'm off to work on my thesis, so I may or may not disappear off the face of the internet for a few weeks. 

Be kind, rewind.

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Wicked is a top-down sweater knit in one piece. I am quite excited about the prospect of not seaming. I hate seaming. I just finished the shoulder increases, and am working on the main body of the sweater. Once that's finished I just pick up the shoulder stitches and make the arms and viola! Sweater-time. I'll probably have it completed by the end of next week.

I cast-on for a mug cozy by mk carroll, which I'm making my mom for Mom's day. I also bought seven skeins of Vanna's Choice (yes, Vanna White has her own line of yarn ... and it's acryllic ...) to make a giant Doctor Who scarf.

I can't wait to make it. I think I'm going to figure out how to double knit it, so that it has a more professional look. Or something.